RAMALLAH, West Bank An al Qaeda-linked
group said three militants killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces last week
were its members, and that their presence there showed that the Islamist
network had taken root in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Al Qaeda has struggled to build up
significant support in the West Bank, analysts say, and the Palestinian Authority
that administers the area last week denied an Israeli report the men were
linked to the organization.

"By the will of God Almighty, the
global jihadi doctrine has reached the bank of pride, the West Bank, planting
its foothold after all attempts to thwart its presence," said a statement
posted by Majles Shura al-Mujahideen, or Holy Warriors' Assembly, on an
Islamist web forum.

Such groups have some grassroots support
in the other Palestinian territory of Gaza, which is governed by the Islamist faction
Hamas.

Israeli officials had said the three
Palestinians killed on Tuesday belonged to an al Qaeda-linked cell plotting
attacks.

They said the men were shot after
opening fire at Israeli troops who tried to arrest them. The West Bank is
policed by Israel in often close cooperation with the U.S.-backed Palestinian
Authority (PA).

On Sunday, PA security forces spokesman
Adnan Damiri said he had no information about the presence of al Qaeda-linked
groups in the West Bank but that Palestinian investigators were looking into
Tuesday's incident.

Many Palestinians chafe at security ties
between the PA and Israel given the lack of clear progress in U.S.-sponsored
peace talks between the sides. Those negotiations are billed as leading to
Palestinian statehood in the West Bank, a territory extensively settled by
Israel, as well as in the Gaza Strip.

In its online statement, Majles Shura
al-Mujahideen denounced the peacemaking efforts and threatened attacks on
Israel and the PA.

"We call on every sincere person to
cut off what is called 'negotiations', which causes one's nose to turn away
with its foul stench of collaboration," the statement said. "We are
serious about fighting the aggression against religion by the blaspheming Jews
and the hypocritical collaborators."